The Union

Picturesque locations, good production values, some good actors and Mark Wahlberg, but nothing memorable. Perfect moving wallpaper to glance at occasionally while scrolling on your phone. Essentially it's a string of comfortable cliches strung together in a predictable sequence, designed to make you forget to cancel your Netflix subscription. Halle Berry looks better than ever, JK Simmons doesn't break a sweat using one of his 'grizzled' character templates.

The UK setting is puzzling because apart from the scenery it's almost wall-to-wall Americans doing American things in American ways. The Slovenian locations look beautiful but, again, they have no impact on the plot, which could easily have been generated by ChatGPT with a very short prompt.

It has become painfully clear that Hollywood is short on good writing. This movie has a ton of story to work with but instead flushes it down the toilet. To be clear it is a stylish action flick, it looks really pretty and the action scenes are fun to watch. The problem however is that the flick has employed an impressive number of A-list actors and gave them poop scripts. The only person that had any decent lines was J. K. Simmons, all the rest of the cast was wasted on a doo-doo script. It wouldn't be out of place to say this has been done before, and a lot better than this. After the plot was explained it was painfully obvious they just copy and pasted bits and pieces from other espionage movies to get this stylish looking thing on screens. It's too bad really, the story could have been worked into something much better than what the end result was. This is a watch and make fun of it while it plays movie, that could have been so much more.

So not even 5 minutes into the movie, and you can already tell who the villain is, and how the movie most likely will end.

Unfortunately I was right.

It was way too predictable, some bad acting and emotions not making sense on the situations.

Choices and decisions that wouldn't make any sense at all, especially not from a so-called agency.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun mindless watch and you should just turn off your brain, grab some chips and a beer and just watch together as a family. But other then that, it's not a movie I'd recommend. It doesn't stand out, fails to suprise or amaze, and honestly it felt long.

So if you're looking for something entertaining to watch as a family, than sure this movie will do.

However if you really want to watch something that drags you in, having you wonder what will happen next or suprise you, then skip this one.

....when actors can get a bit too old to do action movies. I loved Halle Berry in John Wick, but her action sequences in this movie made her look stiff and old and slow. When we've seen her do action in X-Men and even Cat Woman, it's sadly clear that the lady, amazing as ever to look at, is beyond those high energy action flicks.

I enjoy Mark Wahlberg in just about anything I've ever seen him in. He can always hold his own, but the script didn't give him, or anyone else, much to hold on to.

I'd be pretty put out if I had gone to a movie theater to see this movie. Since it was on Netflix, I don't feel too bad. At least I can still rewatch the Great British Baking Show to balance out my losses.

Normally, I don't punch like this, but when you have a cast of truly A-list actors, you expect something worth giving 105 minutes of your life to, that you can never get back.... Italy was pretty.

Halle was hot in Wick, yet I don't know how they did it, but her walk was bad, her acting was bad, her fighting was bad, and her look and wardrobe was just awful. Mark was his usual good acting but even he couldn't do a whole lot with this movie. Fight scenes were sub-par, dialogue was cheesy and everything was so done before. I even stopped the movie to go take a walk. If I had had anything else to do I would not have finished it, but I didn't so ended up watching the rest and nothing about my initial perception changed. To sum up, if you have literally anything else to do go do it, otherwise set your bar low and enjoy.